Spatial Hearing

DXARTS 567

Saturday, January 12, 2013

 • Our auditory system inspects an incoming acoustic signal trying to answer
three main questions:

1) Where am I? (information related to the room or physical environment

where an acoustic source is located)

2) Where is it? (information related to the location and / or movement of the

acoustic source relative to our location)

3) What is it? (information related to the acoustic source itself, in particular

its directivity)

• All this information is combined with other kind of information coming from
our other senses (mainly our sense of sight), and with our prior knowledge
of the behavior of the acoustic source itself. Our perception of space is
holistic.

Saturday, January 12, 2013

 • Tridimensional space represented as slices of a sphere, the x axis
corresponds to left-right, the y axis to front-back and the z axis to up-down:

• Each slice is also called spherical plane, there are three spherical planes:
Frontal: formed by the x and z axis
Horizontal: formed by the x and y axis
Median: formed by the y and z axis

Saturday, January 12, 2013

 • In this system, the angular localization of an acoustic source could be
represented as a point on the sphere, its distance being proportional to the
radius of the sphere.

• The direction and distance of an acoustic source could be also represented

as a tridimensional vector, having an azimuth angle (Θ), an elevation angle
(δ), and a radius (r) corresponding to its distance (this kind of vectorial
representation is the basis of Ambisonics).

Median
Frontal Plane
Plane

Back r
º
º

Front
º
Horizontal º
Plane

Saturday, January 12, 2013

 Perceptual Cues related to the
Horizontal Plane
Interaural Time Difference (ITD)

• Difference in time of the signal arriving to our ears.

• Gives the listener information about the location of the sound source in the
horizontal plane.

• Varies from 0 to 690 micro seconds for signals with azimuth angles
corresponding to 0 and 90 degrees respectively (sound travels about 1cm in
30μs, average distance between ears is roughly 23cm)

Saturday, January 12, 2013

 fuente acústica en el ángulo horizontal. Varía entre 0 y 690 µs para señales
cuyos ángulos de azimut corresponden a 0º y 90º, respectivamente. Como
una onda acústica que se propaga en el aire tarda aproximadamente 30 µs en
• For low frequencies a difference in time becomes a difference in phase
recorrer 1 cm, para ir de un oído al otro necesita aproximadamente 690 µs.2
Si las señales son estrictamente sinusoidales, una diferencia de tiempo
which is perceptually relevant (it seems to be relevant up to a wavelength
equivale a una diferencia de fase. A bajas frecuencias la información conteni-
da en la diferencia de fase es significativa, pero a altas frecuencias la longitud
comparable to the head’s size, 23cm, roughly 1500Hz).
de onda es menor que la distancia entre oídos y la diferencia de fase provee
datos ambiguos. A una longitud de onda de 23 cm, similar a la distancia
promedio entre oídos, le corresponde una frecuencia de 1.500 Hz. Si la señal
posee 10 kHz entran varios ciclos completos en esa distancia y la fase deja de
aportar información espacial unívoca. En la figura 2 se pueden apreciar estas
dos situaciones.

a)
º

Baja frecuencia
F1

b)

F1

F2
Alta frecuencia

Figura 2. Pérdida de efectividad de la itd a alta frecuencia por confusión de fase. El

mecanismo no puede distinguir
a) low entreb)
frequency, la high
localización de las fuentes F1 y F2 si emiten a alta
frequency
frecuencia

2 Se considera aquí una cabeza de tamaño promedio (aproximadamente 23 cm de diámetro).

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Saturday, January 12, 2013

 d = r θ + r sen θ

En la• figura
In the
4 following
se puedegraphic
ver el the time de
gráfico difference in milliseconds
las diferencias between
temporales dethe two
llegada
ears is plotted as a function of the azimuth angle of the source.
en función del ángulo θ. La curva se quiebra a 90º por simetría bilateral.

Diferencia interaural de tiempo (ms)

0,6

0,5

0,4
ITD in ms

0,3

0,2

0,1

0,0
0º 20º 40º 60º 80º 100º 120º 140º 160º 180º

Azimuth
Ángulo horizontal desdeangle
el frente (azimut)

Figura 4. Diferencia interaural de tiempo (itd) en función del azimut

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Saturday, January 12, 2013

 Interaural Intensity Difference (IID)

• Difference in intensity of the signal arriving to our ears.

• In most cases the IID is not provoked by the difference in distance between
the sound source and each ear but by the acoustic shadow caused by our head
which is in between the source and the farthest ear.

• This effect is even more prominent for frequencies beyond 1500 Hz due to
the size of the head. Due to refraction our head becomes pretty transparent
for frequencies blow 500 Hz.

• Seems to be effective for frequencies above 1500 Hz and not at all relevant
for frequencies below 500Hz.

Saturday, January 12, 2013

 • In the following graphic the IID is plotted as a function of the azimuth angle
for different frequencies. It can be noted that for frequencies below 1500Hz
the IID is always below 10 dB, while it goes beyond 20 dB for high
frequencies.

30
20
6000 10
0
Interaural Intensity Difference (dB)

5000 10
0
4000 10
Frequency (Hz)

0
3000 10
0
2500 10
0
1800 10
0
1000 10
0
500 10
0
200 10
0
0º 30º 60º 90º 120º 150º 180º

Azimuth Angle (deg)

Figura 5. Diferencia interaural de intensidad ( ) en función del azimut y de la frecuencia

Saturday, January 12, 2013
 Perceptual Cues related to the
Median Plane
Head Related Transfer Functions (HRTF)

• When the sound source is located on this plane, cues provided by ITD and
IID are the same. In this case the complex filtering effect of the upper torso,
neck, head, and external ears is most responsible for rendering data for
location.

• It should be noted that the information delivered is useful both to determine

the elevation of the source and to know whether it is behind or in front of us.
It should also be noted that this information is different when the azimuth
angle changes, therefore reinforcing the ITD and IID when appropriate.

• HRTF are measured comparing the spectrum of an external stimulus (usually

a burst of noise) with the one of the signal recorded at the entry of ear canal.
The spectral ratio in dB for each elevation and azimuth angle is called a Head
Related Transfer Function (HRTF)

Saturday, January 12, 2013

 • HRTFs are more relevant beyond 4000 Hz given that peaks and valleys in the
transfer functions are more pronounced beyond that frequency (resonant
frequencies between 6 KHz and 12 KHz correspond to the size of the pinna
and its internal cavities, a peak around 3KHz corresponding to the resonance
frequency of the ear canal can also be seen in the graph).

Amplitude 10dB

0º
0º 18º
18º
36º
36º
54º
54º
72º
72º
)I

90º 90º
IH (

106º 106º

126º 126º

144º 144º

162º 162º

180º
180º

0,2 0,5 1 2 5 10 15
Frequency (kHz)

Funciones de transferencia desde el campo externo hasta la entrada del canal

Saturday, January 12, 2013

 Distance Cues

Intensity of the acoustic source

• The acoustic intensity diminishes or grows proportionally to the square of

the distance to the acoustic source.

• For instance, let’s consider an acoustic signal with a normalized intensity of 1

at 1 meter from the listener, the table below shows the intensity values for
different distances from the listener:

Distance Intensity
1 1 (0dB)
2 0.5 (-6dB)
4 0.25 (-12dB)

Saturday, January 12, 2013

 Ratio between reverberated and direct signal

• In closed rooms, the energy of dense reverberation will remain more or less
constant (in average intensity, and for a source delivering the same energy)
while –if the distance changes– the energy of the direct (dry) signal will drop
with the square of the distance. This seems to be the main cue for our
judgment of distance in reverberant environments.

Direct
Reverberation

Distance (m)

Figura 8. Amplitud de la señal directa y de la reverberada

Saturday, January 12, 2013

 Absorption of high frequencies

• Due to the absorption of gasses and air humidity, acoustic energy of high
frequency components is attenuated proportionally to the distance of the
sound source. This effect is similar to a lowpass filter, and is considered relevant
only for distances larger than 30 meters.

• This type of absorption can be calculated using the following simplified

formula:
A(f) = f / 100,000
where A is the attenuation in dB per meter of distance of a frequency
component f of an acoustic signal. This formula indicates that, for instance, a
frequency component of 500 Hz of an acoustic signal at 50 m of distance
would be attenuated by 0.25 dB while one of 10KHz would be attenuated by 5
dB.

Saturday, January 12, 2013

 Absorción de altas frecuencias

Debido a la absorción de los gases y la humedad del aire, la energía acústica

de los componentes de alta frecuencia es atenuada de manera directamente
proporcional a la distancia. Este efecto es similar a un filtro pasabajos, y es
considerado relevante únicamente para distancias superiores a 30 metros. Esta
atenuación selectiva en frecuencia no responde a una función sencilla, ya que
es afectada también por la humedad y la temperatura del aire. Para muy poca
•
humedad,
The following graphic shows that the absorption in the air is significant above
la absorción es casi nula (véase Rossing, 1998, pp. 165-166).
4KHz and has it maximum value around 20% humidity.
La figura 9 da cuenta de la complejidad del fenómeno:
Attenuation at 10m (dB)

Humidity %

Saturday, January 12, 2013

 Other Cues influencing spatial listening

• Doppler effect: this is a powerful cue for judging movement quality and
relative velocity of the source and / or the listener. Through the Doppler shift
we are able to know whether an object is moving and if it is moving towards
us or away from us.

• It should be noted that our auditory system is not particularly able to

continuously track the location of a moving sound source, specially when the
source is moving very fast. This aspect of spatial listening is measured in a unit
called Minimum Audible Movement Angles (MAMAs). For an angular velocity of 15
degrees/sec., we are able to discriminate steps of 5 degrees, or we can say that
the MAMA for that angular velocity is 5 degrees. But at 90 degrees/sec. of
angular velocity the MAMA goes up to 21 degrees. These values are a lot larger
than those corresponding to Minimum Audible Angles (MAAs) measured for
fixed (non moving) sources, which can go down to 1 degree for broadband
signals located on the median plane.

Saturday, January 12, 2013

 Haas Effect or Precedence Effect: Also known as "the law of the first
wavefront" it states that the first wavefront that arrives to our ears will be
considered the direct signal by our auditory system. This helps us discriminate
between direct signal, early echoes and reverberation based on arrival time
differences.

Directional characteristics of the sound source: A sound source radiating equal

energy in all directions is considered an omnidirectional source. This is an ideal
situation, because most natural sound sources do not behave exactly like that.
A non-omnidirectional sound source –like a cardioid or hyper-cardioid source for
instance– will radiate more energy in the direction it is pointing at than to its
back (think of a trumpet or a loudspeaker, for instance). This directional
characteristic of the sound source affects both the direct sound and
reverberation.

Saturday, January 12, 2013

 a. Características direccionales del violín
Radiation patterns of the violin for five different frequencies
para cinco frecuencias diferentes

Saturday, January 12, 2013 Figura 16. Características direccionales de algunos instrumentos musicales (basado en
 Cues used to judge
the features of a room
• Reverberation time: also called T60, that is, the time it takes for the
reverberant signal to drop by 60 dB (0.001 of its amplitude) from the time
when the direct signal is over.

• Spectral balance: rooms act as filters, modifying the spectrum of acoustic

signals. The spectrum of the impulse response of a "well behaved" room should
be flat along the full audio band.

• Diffusion: due to absorption of materials that cover the floor, ceiling and
walls, high frequencies tend to drop more rapidly than low ones.

• Interaural decorrelation: how similar is the reverberation signal entering the

left and right ears of the listener. In real rooms, listeners experiment a "spatial
quality enhancement" when the reverberation is slightly decorrelated.

• Time difference between direct and first relevant echo: this cue helps us guess
how big the room is.

Saturday, January 12, 2013